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Switzerland Crown Jewels Tour
Question about paragliding optional activity. I read in a post from 2021 which said
"Paragliing was a fun optional activity while in Interlaken. A van picks you up at the hotel for a trip to the top of the mountain and you land right in front of the hotel." I just was curious if a more recent traveler still had this as an option - we are traveling in June 2023 and would love this optional activity. TIA.
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I didn't see that as an optional activity either...we'll be on the June 25th trip.
Due to the "potential" danger, especially for the Tauck demographic, I seriously doubt that it was a "Tauck option." (I couldn't find the post) Could the OP have been suggesting it as an optional activity people could do on their own? In this Aug 22 thread www.forums.tauck.com/discussion/16167/question-regarding-free-time-day-8-in-interlaken a number of people discussed doing it during the free time in the afternoon of Day 8. Unfortunately, there were no follow-up posts about the details or how it went, except Noreen said they loved it.
If you are adventurous and you have the time (and the sky is clear and wind relatively light) I would consider it (not for those with back or leg problems.) We did it in Lima before the start of the Peru & Galapagos tour. It was great fun.
I do remember someone claiming this but it might not have been Tauck who offered it but maybe the hotel did.
The TD certainly didn't offer this on our tour in Sep 2021. Not sure how much time it would take to do this and whether you'd have to give up the trip to Jungfraujoch to fit it in.
We did get to watch lots of people doing it as the hotel in Interlaken was right in front of the park where they land.
We went on this tour during June 2022. Two young women in one of the families on our tour did book the paragliding activity in Interlaken. They reported the next morning how much they enjoyed it. It was not sponsored by Tauck, but it's certainly a personal option. And yes, they didn't participate in the morning's trip to Jungfraujoch in order to do this.
Some of the people one our tour did it in the evening and were able to go on all the included excursions. I think they booked it when we arrived or at least after sepeaking with the tour director.
I did this in the afternoon of Day 8 of the 9/5/22 tour - independent of Tauck. Booked it weeks before the trip. As you can imagine, views from 5000 or so feet high were jaw-dropping although, admittedly, I was white-knuckling it holding on to the straps for dear life. We were airborne for at least half an hour. Certainly an unforgettable (in a good way) experience though.
A couple of operators in town - one offers a take off at a higher elevation. I did not have to sign any waiver form which struck me as a bit strange. The pilot holds a stick cam that takes pictures and videos while in-flight. He may ask if you would like to do some aerial maneuvers / acrobatics - which we did. You basically went rotating 360 degrees, and I discovered then that hanging upside down while plummeting wasn’t for me. You have the option afterwards (after reviewing them) to either purchase the entire set of pics/ vids or not for an additional amount. As mentioned above, the landing site is right in front of the hotel. I landed and just walked right in, still feeling slightly nauseated from the aerial maneuvers, to join a couple of my tour-mates for dinner. Didn’t have time to change as I did the flight late afternoon.